Jaha, også McCain ønsker endring ...

[Roald B. Larsen]

men dessverre for det verre.

Leder i New York Times:

September 21, 2008

Editorial
The Candidates and the Court

Among the many issues voters need to consider in this campaign is this
vital fact: The next president is likely to appoint several Supreme Court
justices. Those choices will determine the future of the law, and of
some of Americans' most cherished rights.

John McCain and Barack Obama have made it clear that they would pick
very different kinds of justices. The results could be particularly dramatic
under Mr. McCain, who is likely to complete President Bush's campaign
to make the court an aggressive right-wing force.

Mr. Obama seems likely to pick moderate justices, who would probably
not take the court back onto a distinctly liberal path, but also would be
unlikely to create an unbreakable conservative bloc.

Mr. McCain has promised the right wing of the Republican Party that he would
put only archconservatives on the Supreme Court. Even moderate conservatives
like Anthony Kennedy, the court's current swing justice, would not have a
chance.

Mr. McCain, whose Web site proclaims his dedication to overturning Roe v.
Wade, would appoint justices who could be expected to lead the charge to
eliminate the right to abortion. The kinds of justices for whom Mr. McCain
has expressed a strong preference would also be likely to undermine the
right of habeas corpus, allowing the government to detain people
indefinitely without access to lawyers or family members.

Mr. McCain's justices are likely to join the conservative crusade against
the power of Congress. They could be expected to strike down, or sharply
limit, federal power to protect clean air and water; ensure food and drug
safety; safeguard workers; and prohibit discrimination against women and
minorities. They would also likely further erode the separation between
church and state.

Mr. McCain has voted to confirm federal judges chosen by Mr. Bush who are
radicals, not conservatives. One, Janice Rogers Brown, now on the United
States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, has attacked
Supreme Court decisions upholding New Deal laws as "the triumph of
our own socialist revolution."

Mr. Obama, a former professor of constitutional law, has clashed with Mr.
McCain in the Senate over legal issues. Mr. McCain backed the odious
Military Commissions Act of 2006, which the Supreme Court held to violate
the right of habeas corpus; Mr. Obama opposed it. Mr. McCain was a rubber
stamp for Mr. Bush's judicial nominees; Mr. Obama voted against the worst.

Mr. Obama has said he wants justices who have "the empathy to recognize what
it's like to be a young teenage mom" - as well as to be gay, poor or black.
He has promised to make "preserving women's rights under Roe v. Wade a
priority as president."

At the same time, Mr. Obama has put distance between himself and
legal liberals on issues like the death penalty for child rapists and the
constitutionality of gun control. As president, Mr. Obama would
probably be more inclined to appoint centrist liberals, like Justice
Stephen Breyer, than all-out liberals, like William Brennan or
Thurgood Marshall.

Predicting vacancies on the court is difficult. But odds are that members of
the liberal bloc, like 88-year-old John Paul Stevens, will leave first. That
means that if Mr. Obama is elected, he might merely keep the court on its
current moderately conservative course. Under Mr. McCain, if a liberal
justice or two or three steps down, we may see a very different America.